The US believes an Iranian attack against Israel has grown even more likely and may come as soon as this week, officials said, as allied leaders sought to head off all-out war and the Pentagon deployed more forces to the region.

Briefing reporters Monday, White House spokesman John Kirby said the US and its allies “have to be prepared for what could be a significant set of attacks.”

Israel believes it’s “increasingly likely that there’ll be an attack” by Iran and its proxies, Kirby said. “We share those concerns.”

The implications were underscored by Fitch Ratings decision to downgrade Israel’s sovereign debt by one notch, to A from A+, while keeping a negative outlook and citing “continued war” and geopolitical risks.

The White House comments were the strongest indications yet that officials expect that an attack may come at any time. Some have been puzzled that it has yet to happen, given Iran has threatened for days to retaliate after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran - a killing that Israel has yet to take credit for.

In the meantime, allies are doing everything they can to head off an Iranian strike, which they fear could spark a wider regional war. That effort has focused on trying to inject new life into cease-fire talks involving the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to travel to the Middle East on Tuesday night, Axios reporter Barak Ravid said in a X post, citing an unidentified source. He will travel to Qatar, Egypt and Israel, according to the post.

The last time Iran attacked Israel, in April, it fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones, almost all of which were intercepted. Casualties were limited, and Israel responded at the time with a limited drone operation but elected not to escalate further.

Officials worry this time could be different, especially if an Iranian attack results in many dead or wounded.

In a joint statement Monday, President Joe Biden and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and the UK backed efforts to complete a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of hostages held by Hamas. They called for “unfettered delivery and distribution of aid” and endorsed “the defense of Israel against Iranian aggression and against attacks by Iran-backed terrorist groups.”

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, asking that Iran refrain from attacking Israel and “adding that war was not in anyone’s interest,” according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

“We don’t know when it will happen and if it will happen,” Colonel Gilead Shenhar of the Israel Defense Forces’ Homefront Command, which is in charge of civilian emergency preparedness, told Tel Aviv radio station 103 FM on Tuesday. “It’s possible that we will quickly transition from tense routine to the attack phase, which we refer to as ‘zero to sixty’.”

In a disclosure that may add new complications to the hostage release negotiations, Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union, said Monday that two of its militants killed a male hostage and severely wounded two female hostages in separate incidents. It said in the statement that Israel’s airstrikes in Gaza stir reactions that threaten the lives of hostages.

The US, Qatar and Egypt have called for a new round of talks on Aug 15. But Hamas has pushed back against the proposal, saying discussions should center on implementing previous plans.

Israel has agreed to attend the talks. One Israeli official said they would take place in Doha with a focus on whether Hamas might relent on truce terms. Another Israeli official said Arab mediators would confer with Hamas afterward if the group boycotts the session. Israel hasn’t yielded on its main terms, said the officials, who spoke to Bloomberg News on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue.

On Sunday, the Pentagon announced it was sending even more forces to the region, including the USS Georgia, a submarine equipped with more than 150 Tomahawk missiles. That in itself is an unusual show of force given that the US rarely discloses the movements of its nuclear-powered submarine fleet, and Tomahawks have been used to strike ground targets in the region in the past.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin also ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group to speed up their arrival in the region. The vessel carries F-35 fighter jets, which could help strike targets and intercept any Iranian attacks.

Acting Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani described an attack on Israel as “inevitable,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told Italian news broadcast TG4.

Tajani said any escalation would be a mistake and Iran should first evaluate the cease-fire negotiations.

“But it seems to me that the Iranians are in a very difficult position,” he said. 

  - Bloomberg